


Past and Present

by Luthienberen



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, grimm_challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luthienberen/pseuds/Luthienberen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When is Nick is out of a town a spate of child snatchings forces Rosalee to act.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past and Present

**Author's Note:**

> Written for rodlox for the Christmas Gift Challenge at grimm_challenge, who requested Rosalee. This is a ‘fairy-tale’ type of fic with Rosalee at the heart of it. Not beta-read.

When Rosalee was a child she and her brother had been close, like two threads twisted together until you couldn't pull them apart. As adults they drifted away, as her brother entered the seedier side of the wesen world.

It still grieved Rosalee that she hadn't fully understood how far from the straight and narrow her brother had wandered, instead allowing time and distance to fray their threads until eventually that cord was torn.

That grief and regret still filled her, the memories of the good times only slowly easing the pain.

Today however, those memories were the reason for what she was doing.

Walking briskly down the pavement, Rosalee gripped her basket tightly. The morning was cold, winter settling in and her breath appeared as puffs in the air. Glancing around Rosalee noticed how unusually quiet it was for the school holidays.

No children played in the nearby park, no parents pushed strollers down the pavement and no child was in the front garden watching their mother or father deice the windscreen of the car.

Rosalee wasn't surprised. The spate of child snatchings had put parents on the alert and they hid their children where they could at least keep an eye on them. The police were going crazy, searching every lead.

They wouldn't find anything. Grimly, Rosalee walked faster. The child snatcher was a wesen, a hag, who could take on a most pleasing form and lure children away with the promise of sweets and games. Where did humans think Hansel and Gretel came from?

Something had to be done and the human police were out of their league and unfortunately Portland's Grimm was off duty, spending a much deserved week away. Monroe was also absent with his best friend and Juliette was at a training session. If Rosalee was paranoid she would think that it was rather convenient the timings of these child-snatchings. Never-mind, she had sworn to protect Portland in Nick's absence and she wasn't going to break her word to Nick or fail those children. They reminded her of spending long days in her brother's company, always weaving some new plot.

So, after two horrid days of searching through Portland's underbelly Rosalee had discovered the location of the hag. The hag was actually living in a well-populated area with a job in a local bookshop, unusual for one of her kind, but genius for blending in and being ordinary.

Now came the most terrifying part: facing the hag. Inhaling sharp cold air, Rosalee shivered but stoically strode up the driveway to the hag's house.

She would have one chance and one only. With good fortune, the beavers would be calling the police on an anonymous tip and by the time they arrived Rosalee would have broken the spell, incapacitating the hag.

She prayed her potion and herbs would work.

Rosalee knocked.

A minute ticked by before Rosalee’s sharp ears caught footsteps approaching. The door swung open and Rosalee smiled charmingly. The hag was a beautiful: long golden locks, pale blue eyes and porcelain skin: a princess from the pages of a fairy-tale book.

Rosalee was also dressed like a fairy-tale: red wool hat, red mittens and long scarlet coat. There was power in the old tales, in the old beliefs and that power came from how the stories worked. The momentum of years of re-telling bent everyone who aspired to the old ways or who purposefully undertook a part in the story.

By electing to dress this way Rosalee knew very well that she was forcing her encounter to take a certain path and Rosalee knew that the hag, with all her magic and craft would be helpless to resist. She had begun the story, Rosalee _was going to finish it_.

Rosalee lifted the basket and said as innocently as possible, "I'm collecting for the girl guides. Would you like to buy a biscuit or apple? Perhaps try before you buy?"

Smiling sweetly, Rosalee ensured that the basket was right under the hag's nose. From the contents wafted a terrific scent of sweetness and spice and the freshness of apples, all boosted with a dutiful dose of a certain bottle of herbs. Those herbs ensnared the recipient, causing irresistible hunger and desire to flourish.

The hag was caught and nodded. "A gingerbread man, I noticed you have some tucked away. How cruel to hide them!"

Rosalee laughed, "Sorry. Of course you can sample one. Oh, but it will be tricky to do so out here, with the ground being so cold and icy. It might ruin my basket."

''No problem dear. Please come in."

Delighted, heart pounding, Rosalee stepped over the threshold and immediately had the odour of cooked apple pie, stew and sweets smack her in the face. Hastily, Rosalee put her basket down on the table as indicated by the hag.

“I just need to put on some more lip balm; you know how the cold chaps the lips."

The hag barely acknowledged her, eyeing the basket contents greedily. Quickly Rosalee replied the numbing agent, for just as Rosalee was guiding the story she was subject to the precepts of the tale, and any magic the hag had woven Rosalee could fall under.

The lip balm worked instantly and the scents in the room became indistinct. Rosalee looked at the hag and could glimpse little flashes of grey wrinkled skin and black beady eyes and the crooked nose. The jagged teeth were the worst, yellowed and stained with blood...Rosalee almost Woged.

There wasn't any time for delay - Rosalee wasn't going to allow this hag to roam a minute longer among the children of Portland. Forget the Grimm, she was a Fuchsbau and she was living up to her cunning nature.

"Here," Rosalee dipped her hands into her basket, unbinding the plastic from the gingerbread men, "try them. They are to die for."

The hag greedily grabbed one and stuffed it whole into her face. Rosalee pretended not to be disgusted, instead watching with fake concern. "Is it tasty? Don't you think the spice is wonderful?"

The hag nodded and chewed another. Then she gobbled the last.

Suddenly she blinked and stared in confusion at Rosalee. "I feel so tired suddenly."

Rising, the hag swayed and alarmed glared at Rosalee, eyes already hazy. "What was in those men?"

Rosalee shrugged, "Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that and a healthy dose of my sleeping draught. Quite effective, especially when mixed with ginger. I hope your sleep is restful."

Standing Rosalee shifted and did not react to the hag's fury at seeing her for what she was.

''Now, I must finish this tale, so excuse me."

Brushing past Rosalee heard the hag hit the floor. Unconcerned, Rosalee swept through the house, sprinkling "Pure of Heart and Mind" over as many items as she could. Brewed from tulips and soaked with crystals and amber the potion would shatter the spells the hag had layered over the house.

The police would not be intoxicated when they entered, instead their minds would be freed and hearts loosened.

To ensure this Rosalee packed some of the most dangerous foods and to fulfil the tale, left the oven door open and dragged the hag close. Death was too good for her, but a small cooking would do her the world of good.

Rosalee eased the basement door open, heart sore from what she smelled. That carnage she would leave for the police.

Briskly walking away Rosalee heard the sirens and knew the beavers had pulled through.

In death the only succour for those children she had managed was the capture of their killer, for all other children Rosalee hoped she had granted time for them to spend with their precious siblings or friends. The thought was comforting and with it Rosalee smiled, the pain of her brother's loss lessened and instead the memories of playing in the garden were bright and loving.


End file.
